ATCL Recital in Flute

I'm not sure I'm posting in the right forum, so i'm sorry if I'm wrong :smile:

I'm taking my ATCL Recital on the flute next month (Equivalent of Performer's certificate... They don't seem to do performer's certificate on the flute this year so my teacher said we should go for the recital instead...)

Anyway, i was wondering, has anyone taken an ATCL Recital exam before? If so, is the marking harsh? And as to program notes, is there advice you could give me as to what to put on the program notes? Also would I need to introduce each piece verbally or would programme notes suffice?

Reply 1

NickiM

Sorry - not done one, but wanted to wish you all the best. What pieces are you playing?

Reply 2

Raindroppe

Thank you!

I'm playing:
Bach - Sonata in E minor, 3rd and 4th movements
Widor - Romance
Faure - Fantasie (Op. 79)
Berkeley - Sonatina (Op. 13)

Does that sound like a balanced program to you? :s-smilie:

lol

And I MIGHT need to add one more on, because I timed myself and it's not QUITE 30mins yet! Eek! Well my teacher is rifling through some easier ones that I could whip up within a few weeks, so that's good ^_^

Well has anyone done an ATCL recital or performance or even a performer's certificate on any instrument at all??

Reply 3

NickiM

Sounds like a lovely programme, I love the Bach and the Faure, I don't know the other 2.

I'm on another forum - http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showforum=24, and I know people there have definitely done diplomas on the flute :smile:

Reply 4

jellybaby1

Sorry I didn't have time to reply to this thread earlier, hope this isn't too late. I've done a DipABRSM on clarinet, and I was going to take ATCL Treble Recorder (although I didn't in the end as I had too much to do with A levels at the time) so I do have some experience of these exams.

Programme notes: Start of with the basic information about the piece, when it was composed and where, first performance etc. If it's possible, find out who it was originally written for (which performer), as knowing this can help you decide how to interpret the piece, and this type of information is usually interesting for the reader too. It's also good to put the piece in context - did the composer write many pieces for the flute, what else was he writing at the time, and any social factors that might be relevant. Try to condense this down to a few sentences so you aren't filling up your word count on background info. Then move on to an overview/analysis of the piece. You could comment on movements, structure, tonality, harmony etc and then balance this with less analytical language by commenting on the mood, tone or character of the piece. I think they want you to write in an accessible way as though for a general audience (This is true for ABRSM anyway, might be worth checking up for Trinity). You should focus on this part mainly, but it doesn't need to be too long - I'm not sure what the word count is but it should be just enough to give the general character of the piece.

I don't think you'd need to verbally introduce your programme verbally, handing over the programme notes should be fine.

I'm sorry I don't have any experience of the marking as I've never taken the exam.

I don't know any of the pieces you're playing as I'm not a flautist but in terns of the composers you have chosen you look to have a nicely balanced programme with a good range of composers. When you time your pieces, it might be worth running the programme through as though you were actually doing the exam, so setting the timer going, putting your music on the stand, tuning up and retuning if you like between movements, having a breather between pieces just to give you an idea of whether another piece is needed. Hope this helps a bit!